Critical Periods of Cancer Patients Should be Spent at Home
Many people with severe cancer chooses home as a place to breathe their last breath. Indeed cancer patients will die peacefully and families would feel better emotionally when they’re at home.
According to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, doing home care for patients with severe cancer can not only save money, but also can reduce pain physically and emotionally.
“Patients with cancer who died in the ICU or the hospital will experience more severe physical and emotional pain. Besides that, the quality of life has become worse,” said Dr. Alexi Wright of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, according to Reuters.
Dr Wright explained that if patients are aware that more aggressive treatment (such as in hospitals) not only can affect the quality of life, but also their loved ones after death, then the patient will be able to make different choices, that is being treated at home.
To observe this condition, Wright’s team studied 342 patients with terminal cancer and their family until the patient dies, usually around 4.5 months later.
“From the survey, most cancer patients prefer to die at home, 36 percent died in hospitals and 8 percent died in the intensive care unit (ICU),” said Dr Wright.
According to Dr. Wright, when cancer patients died in the ICU, family and people they loved are five times more likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“This is the first study showing that families of patients who died in the ICU are at high risk for developing PTSD,” said Dr Wright.
Families and loved ones of patients who died in the hospital are also more likely to have prolonged grief disorder and the cessation of sadness that lasts more than six months.
The study shows that home care can not only alleviate suffering end-stage cancer patients, but also can help patients live a little longer.
Tagged with: Cancer Patients, critical periods, intensive care unit, Post Traumatic Stress, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Terminal Cancer, Traumatic Stress Disorder,
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